Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

Video Game Industry Thread: 300+ people lose their jobs. Curt Schilling still rich.

Yeah but over here NFL Street or NFL Blitz hasn't set the charts on fire despite American football being the most popular sport, FIFA Street is just a game that came out of nowhere and has been #1 or #2 now since it released.

Yeah but over here NFL Street or NFL Blitz hasn't set the charts on fire despite American football being the most popular sport, FIFA Street is just a game that came out of nowhere and has been #1 or #2 now since it released.

But it says FIFA on it so will sell like hotcakes to the series fans.

Like I have a few friends who don't play video games, they play FIFA. They live football so will buy anything that comes out every year.

I was just about to mention the comic, cloudeagle. I made a pretty lengthy post on the topic in the comic thread over in the hub. It was basically me repeating myself from here when the news first broke, only a bit longer-winded.

The bottom line is, just because you pretend you have brand recognition doesn't mean you actually do. It's just another drop in the "copying Nintendo" bucket. Should've waited to put something like this out.

I mean, we all know there is going to be a 3DS2 or something equally confusingly named soon that will have the extra controller part built in, right?

There is no way they are riding the next 4-5 years of that handheld with the second analog stick being a breakaway accessory.

Well, it's either that or everyone, devs included, forgets the CPP even exists within the next year and we see virtually nothing utilize it.

Yeah. Splitting the market would be a very bad decision, IMO. Most genres don't actually require dual sticks, just shooters and action/adventure games with movement+camera control. Racing, puzzle, RPG, strategy, simulation, 2D sidecrollers and shooters, and even certain designs of games that you'd expect to require dual sticks (see OoT) don't necessarily need them.

I'm not saying that dual sticks suck by any means, or that it wouldn't have been good to include it to begin with. Just that splitting the market for those few game types doesn't seem wise. Even dual stick games would have to include legacy control schemes for the rest of the system's life, and conversely a lot of games wouldn't bother to support it anyway because they don't need it.

How would you support the CPP as well as the new system? Games like Revelations need to detect the CPP through the IR port every time you use it. Do you fake it somehow for those specific games?

I feel like Nintendo is purposefully limiting the sale of CPP units because they don't want it to become standard - they don't want devs to widely support it, and they don't want people to feel limited because they haven't bought one.

Just days from its release, Awesomenauts may not come to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN after all. Publisher dtp entertainment, also responsible for titles such as Drakensang, Divinity II, and the unsuccessful Cursed Crusade, filed for insolvency today.

This could compromise the Awesomenauts launch this week, but it's so up in the air even developer Ronimo isn't certain about its future."At the moment we're unsure what this means for [Awesomenauts]," Ronimo's Jasper Koning told IGN.

Watch more Awesomenauts gameplay here.
The indebted German publisher will either need to reorganize or liquidate its assets in the interim, with or without a court-appointed trustee.

For the time being, Koning and Ronimo are "working hard to try and resolve the situation." We'll know more about dtp entertainment's future as it's determined in the coming months.

Nintendo just wants an office and for you to look offical, and Sony is sort of in the middle. MS clearly has a hate on for small timers.

Nintendo's office requirement is by far the most odious requirement of the three. Renting an office is not cheap and makes absolutely no sense at all for indie developers that aren't centrally located.

Microsoft's system is basically this - "You don't have a publisher? Okay, we'll be your publisher." From people I've talked to, they're pretty accommodating to indie developers who they're acting as publishers for.

Nintendo just wants an office and for you to look offical, and Sony is sort of in the middle. MS clearly has a hate on for small timers.

Nintendo's office requirement is by far the most odious requirement of the three. Renting an office is not cheap and makes absolutely no sense at all for indie developers that aren't centrally located.

Microsoft's system is basically this - "You don't have a publisher? Okay, we'll be your publisher." From people I've talked to, they're pretty accommodating to indie developers who they're acting as publishers for.

Yeah, but, that doesn't make it sound like Microsoft is singlehandedly ruining gaming. Could you change it a little?

Angry Birds Space has been downloaded a whopping 50 million times in the 35 days since it launched.

The incredible figure makes it the fastest-growing mobile game ever, and breaks all of developer Rovio's previous records.

"This has been simply amazing, and the whole Rovio team is thrilled to see such a fantastic reception for the game," the Finnish company wrote on the Angry Birds blog.

"We extend our deepest gratitude to all fans of Angry Birds everywhere. While numbers like this certainly say something about the popularity of Angry Birds, for us the main goal is to keep creating fun new experiences that everybody can enjoy!"

The 69p app went on sale on 22nd March. It's currently available for iOS, Android, PC and Mac. A Windows Phone version is in the works.

German governing party Christlich-demokratische Union (CDU) has publicly protested against Crysis 2 being nominated for - and eventually winning - the German Computergames Award for Best German Game.

Quite a coup for Crysis 2, given that half of the Deutscher Computerspielepreis jury is determined by that same government. The other half is determined by the German developer federation G.A.M.E., and the German publisher federation BIU.
"The parliamentary faction of the CDU/CSU disassociates itself from the decision of the independent jury to nominate a so-called killer-game in the category Best German Game," said CDU/CSU parliamentary speaker Wolfgang Börnsen in an official statement, via the German edition of GamesIndustry International.

"We regard this nomination as unjustifiable.

"We demand a fundamental new conception, a clear recollection to the cultural and educational value of a computer game.

"So called killer games must not be honoured, even if they are technically outstanding."

The publisher federation BIU riposted:

"The host cannot accept that the independent jury is damaged. The jury has decided over the nominees for the category Best German Game on the base of the criteria of the Deutscher Computerspielepreis. The opening of the category [to 18+ titles] was expressly agreed with culture minister of state Bernd Neumann [the host for the Deutscher Computerspielepreis]. A jury deciding on this basis can't be left alone."

"In the light of one decision of the jury, it makes sense to think about if games should be honoured which are only suitable for grown-ups, because a game not suitable for teenagers because of the violence cannot be of cultural or educational value."

Wolfgang Börnsen has apparently demanded another independent jury for next time.

Germany is a country famous in the video game industry for imposing strict restrictions on the sale of violent video games, with publishers sometimes forced to cut content to secure a rating and release.

Fair play to the German government. If I could beat something like Crysis 2 through some kind of Civilization style 'economic victory' then that would rock. Guns don't kill people - economic, medical and environmental factors do.

I was just about to mention the comic, cloudeagle. I made a pretty lengthy post on the topic in the comic thread over in the hub. It was basically me repeating myself from here when the news first broke, only a bit longer-winded.

The bottom line is, just because you pretend you have brand recognition doesn't mean you actually do. It's just another drop in the "copying Nintendo" bucket. Should've waited to put something like this out.

I don't understand all the negativity this game's announcement has recieved. So what if its a Brawl clone? If the game comes out and it stinks that's one thing, but Torchlight and Titan Quest are Diablo clones and I don't remember any flak directed at those games.

Sony All-Stars looks really cool, and its got more than just "Guy from God of War". The brand recognition is admittedly weaker than Nintendo's, but there are tons of people who can look at the characters in this game and know exactly who they are, and get excited over them. I hope they announce some more awesome PS1/2 era guys ala Parappa. They've also confirmed third part characters too, so if they have a strong line up of those as well, I think this could be a pretty awesome game. Assuming this new and unproven dev team doesnt fuck it up.

It's like the N-word and the C-word had a baby, and it was raised by all the bad words for Jews.3DS FC: 5129-0946-8305PSN: DrSkullnumbers

Can't see it in any search results, but Amazon UK have confirmed that they're not launching their digital download service for PC games this year - it was originally pencilled in for April 2012. They are pressing ahead with the German platform and might roll out to the UK in 2013.

I think because it's blatantly false advertising, barely any of the characters can be considered "All Stars"

If I'm not mistaken, there are only 6 characters confirmed so far. Only one of them is from an unpopular series - Fat Princess (and how can you not want a character called Fat Princess in your fighting game?). Parappa basically started the modern music genre and the 4 others are all from popular series.

And it's not like every character in the Smash Bros. games is an all-star. For example, outside of the diehard Nintendo faithful, your average individual had no clue who Olimar was before he showed up in Smash Bros.

I was just about to mention the comic, cloudeagle. I made a pretty lengthy post on the topic in the comic thread over in the hub. It was basically me repeating myself from here when the news first broke, only a bit longer-winded.

The bottom line is, just because you pretend you have brand recognition doesn't mean you actually do. It's just another drop in the "copying Nintendo" bucket. Should've waited to put something like this out.

I don't understand all the negativity this game's announcement has recieved. So what if its a Brawl clone? If the game comes out and it stinks that's one thing, but Torchlight and Titan Quest are Diablo clones and I don't remember any flak directed at those games.

Sony All-Stars looks really cool, and its got more than just "Guy from God of War". The brand recognition is admittedly weaker than Nintendo's, but there are tons of people who can look at the characters in this game and know exactly who they are, and get excited over them. I hope they announce some more awesome PS1/2 era guys ala Parappa. They've also confirmed third part characters too, so if they have a strong line up of those as well, I think this could be a pretty awesome game. Assuming this new and unproven dev team doesnt fuck it up.

I've said it before, but the two problems with the reveal were were 1) the leak, 2) the fact that the reveal pretended the leak never happened, and 3) the way they didn't show us something, anything that differentiated it from Smash Bros. other than the IP ownership.

I've said it before, but the two problems with the reveal were were 1) the leak, 2) the fact that the reveal pretended the leak never happened, and 3) the way they didn't show us something, anything that differentiated it from Smash Bros. other than the IP ownership.

:-P

That said, I have no stake in the matter; I enjoy Brawl but I only really got into the GC edition (no longer own a GC) and own neither a Wii nor a PS3, so it's strictly academic on my end.

I think because it's blatantly false advertising, barely any of the characters can be considered "All Stars"

If I'm not mistaken, there are only 6 characters confirmed so far. Only one of them is from an unpopular series - Fat Princess (and how can you not want a character called Fat Princess in your fighting game?). Parappa basically started the modern music genre and the 4 others are all from popular series.

And it's not like every character in the Smash Bros. games is an all-star. For example, outside of the diehard Nintendo faithful, your average individual had no clue who Olimar was before he showed up in Smash Bros.

It's not that they don't have enough characters to use, it's just do they have enough that people give a shit about? I mean, I'd say 90% of the initial appeal of Super Smash Bros was "You can beat the shit out of Pikachu with Link." Are people actually clamoring to beat up Parappa with Kratos?

Also PSASBR is going to have 3rd party characters. Given that Square-Enix owns Eidos, a deal with them would be very beneficial since it would get them both Lara Croft and Cloud Strife, both of which are about as high profile as video game characters get (and both of which are closely associated with the PS1).

And I don't get the complaints of "It's just Smash Bros with different characters." Smash Bro.'s #1 selling point is the characters so a game that plays the same but with a different roster is a huge change. It would be like complaining that Titan Quest is just Diablo with different skills & items.

I think because it's blatantly false advertising, barely any of the characters can be considered "All Stars"

If I'm not mistaken, there are only 6 characters confirmed so far. Only one of them is from an unpopular series - Fat Princess (and how can you not want a character called Fat Princess in your fighting game?). Parappa basically started the modern music genre and the 4 others are all from popular series.

And it's not like every character in the Smash Bros. games is an all-star. For example, outside of the diehard Nintendo faithful, your average individual had no clue who Olimar was before he showed up in Smash Bros.

That's what amazes me about the complaints that Sony has no characters compared to Nintendo. No, they don't have Mario - but SSBB had ROB, Ike, Marth, Sheik, Ness, Mr. Game & Watch, Lucas, Ice Climbers, and even Pit who certainly weren't household names. Captain Falcon, Olimar and Wolf are probably debatable for many kids/teens as well.

If Mario, Luigi, Bowser and Princess Peach can all be playable in the same game or Kirby, Metaknight, and King Dedede for that matter, then there's no reason that we're even limited to one per series either. Jak and Daxter could be separate fighters - they've had separate games afterall. There's Sly's backup team that could be included and Ratchet and Clank could be there plus Captain Qwark.

Just curious, was there anything more concrete about third parties being in Sony Smash Bros. other than "we're talking to third parties?" I mean, Nintendo said third parties were going to be in Brawl, and after years of "AAAAAH EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE IN IT" we just got Sonic and Snake.

Just curious, was there anything more concrete about third parties being in Sony Smash Bros. other than "we're talking to third parties?" I mean, Nintendo said third parties were going to be in Brawl, and after years of "AAAAAH EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE IN IT" we just got Sonic and Snake.

Nope, nothing concrete so it's anyone's guess on who or how many it ends up with. I still think Lara Croft & Cloud Strife are the most likely inclusions since in the end, they're owned by the same company.

Just curious, was there anything more concrete about third parties being in Sony Smash Bros. other than "we're talking to third parties?" I mean, Nintendo said third parties were going to be in Brawl, and after years of "AAAAAH EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE IN IT" we just got Sonic and Snake.

Not really - I think people assume that Sony will do a few more 3rd party characters just because so much more of their console identity comes from their 3rd parties than Nintendo. Most people for the PS1 think of Crash, Spyro, FFVII, Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk rather than Sony properties.

I would LOVE for Tony Hawk to be playable BTW - but they gave Parappa a Skateboard so that seems unlikely.

Just curious, was there anything more concrete about third parties being in Sony Smash Bros. other than "we're talking to third parties?" I mean, Nintendo said third parties were going to be in Brawl, and after years of "AAAAAH EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE IN IT" we just got Sonic and Snake.

Nope, nothing concrete so it's anyone's guess on who or how many it ends up with. I still think Lara Croft & Cloud Strife are the most likely inclusions since in the end, they're owned by the same company.

The game was released in 1999 -- I think Star Fox 64 was still in people's consciousness, and it was right up in the middle of Pokemania.

EDIT: More Playstation All Star Battle Royales -- that guy from Resistance. the siren in siren: blood curse (there was a siren right?). the horse from shadow of the colossus. the qube from intelligent qube

It would be like complaining that Titan Quest is just Diablo with different skills & items.

Diablo's selling point isn't using classic characters to beat up on each other.

If the action roguelike genre had been kicked off by Final Fantasy instead and a big part of the appeal was running around as Cid and Terra and Black Mage, then the comparison would be apt: Titan Quest would be the upstart without nostalgic characters backing it, and calling its potential popularity into question would be justified.

It would be like complaining that Titan Quest is just Diablo with different skills & items.

Diablo's selling point isn't using classic characters to beat up on each other.

If the action roguelike genre had been kicked off by Final Fantasy instead and a big part of the appeal was running around as Cid and Terra and Black Mage, then the comparison would be apt: Titan Quest would be the upstart without nostalgic characters backing it, and calling its potential popularity into question would be justified.

No, my point was that the main selling point of Diablo was improving your character's capabilities through skills & items. Titan Quest is basically Diablo except the skills & items (i.e. the main selling point) are different.

EDIT: Siren has a few cool characters they could use. You can have a Shibito character who can turn into the various enemy forms from the game (like spider Shibito & flying Shibito - super move would turn it into a sniper). You could also have Kyoya Suda (Japanese teenager who is arguably the main character of the first game) who ends up the game with a katana & a shotgun.

Oh and to bring this back more in line with the thread's purpose, does anyone have any sales figures for the Star Fox series? I was under the impression that it sold decently but was never really a blockbuster series.

I wouldn't try to apply "logic" as to which third parties will be in there (if any -- the key phrase was "we're talking to"). After all, Mega Man and Simon Belmont are very, very closely tied to people's memories of classic Nintendo stuff, and they weren't in Brawl. Meanwhile Snake was, and he's better known as a PlayStation character.

I wouldn't try to apply "logic" as to which third parties will be in there (if any -- the key phrase was "we're talking to"). After all, Mega Man and Simon Belmont are very, very closely tied to people's memories of classic Nintendo stuff, and they weren't in Brawl. Meanwhile Snake was, and he's better known as a PlayStation character.

It is going to be hilarious when they announce Snake (probably MGS4 old snake) for the game.

"We have Snake guys! Who wouldn't want to play Snake like never before in a cross-over game!"

In other news, rumor has it that Bayonetta 2 has been cancelled....and it doesn't surprise me, with the money Sega lost recently, and how they are cutting their franchises down to like a handfull, this just seemed inevitable.

Some bad news for SEGA fans everywhere - SPOnG has heard word that Bayonetta 2 has been cancelled, following the publisher's ongoing restructure.

A source familiar with the situation has told SPOnG that progress on the apparent Platinum Games sequel was halted. The game was to include a new character, in the form of a member of the US military.

While it was not possible to ascertain from our source if Bayonetta 2 had begun development internally, the detail of a potential new character would suggest that plans were at least in a pre-production design stage.

SEGA announced a dramatic restructuring of its Western consumer business last month, following a dismal performance in the last fiscal year. Redundancies hit both the European and American offices, and a number of titles were said to be cancelled internally.

It was feared that Platinum Games' projects - which have been critically well-received but have had little success commercially - would be at risk, with a rumoured sequel to Bayonetta at the top of such a list. The original game was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in January 2010, to critical acclaim.

SPOnG has asked SEGA about the situation, to the response, "No comment."